1. List of the Prior Art
The prior art appears to be best exemplified by the following patents:
Banczak, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,021,252; May 3, 1977 Wachtel, 4,024,096; May 17, 1977 Parkinson, 4,045,397; Aug. 30, 1977 Hwang, 4,070,322; Jan. 24, 1978 Parkinson, German Offenlegungsschrift 2,617,407; Oct. 28, 1976.
2. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to jet ink compositions suitable for ink jet printing on a variety of substrates including metal, synthetic polymers and glass.
Ink jet printing techniques, although of comparatively recent development in the art of applying decorative and identifying indicia to a substrate, are of increasing importance. In general such techniques impose rigid requirements on the ink compositions. To be suitable for use as a jet ink, the compositions must meet rigid requirements of viscosity and resistivity, solubility, compatibility of components, wettability of substrate, must be quick drying and smear resistant without clogging the ink jet nozzle and must permit rapid clean-up of the machine components with minimum effort. At the same time, such compositions must also be adapted for satisfactory performance in the particular end use application.
To date, where the end use requirements have necessitated abrasion-resistance, resistance to weathering and fade-resistance together with suitability for use on a variety of substrates such as, for example, polymeric surfaces, metal surfaces or glass surfaces, ink jet compositions have not been satisfactory since no ink offering such versatility has been available. Jet inks possess numerous advantages over those inks applied by conventional techniques such as letter press, gravure, silk-screen or other similar conventional techniques. Such conventional inks are not suitable for jet ink printing because they frequently contain pigments which cause clogging problems in the ink jet equipment. Additionally, conventional inks generally require curing at elevated temperatures for extended periods of time. Moreover, their use in printing polymer coated surfaces, etc. has not been particularly efficacious primarily because the means of applying such inks have not been conducive to high speed techniques.
It is an object of this invention to provide ink compositions, suitable for use in ink jet printing techniques, that exhibit excellent characteristics of fade-resistance, abrasion-resistance, and weathering.
It is another object of this invention to provide jet ink compositions suitable for application to a variety of surfaces including polymer substrates, metal substrates and glass substrates. Yet another object of this invention is to provide jet ink compositions suitable for application to polymer coated wires.
Another object of the invention is to provide substrates bearing identifying indicia, derived by application of said jet ink composition employing an ink jet printing technique.
Another object is to provide indicia-containing polymer coated wires that are suitable for use in aircraft and that, when heated at temperatures of about 300.degree. F., are characterized by resistance to hydraulic fluids commonly employed.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the description of the invention which follows: